Professor A. Mark Smith of the University of Missouri, who specialises in Medieval history and the history of science, described the significance of Ibn al-Haytham's contributions:

"Ibn al-Haytham’s primary contribution to the development of modern optics was the creation of a brilliant optical synthesis from various earlier theories, as well as his own. So elegant, coherent, and logically compelling was that synthesis, in fact, that it informed optical thought in Europe for hundreds of years before it was finally undermined by Kepler. The very fact that it persisted for so long and that it finally took a thinker of Kepler’s exceptional acuity to offer a viable alternative in the theory of retinal imaging is a testament to its elegance and logical power."

Ibn al-Haytham’s seminal work on optics and light is evidence of the accumulation of scientific knowledge which built on the contributions of different civilisations, helping to this day shape our understanding of the universe and impacting our day-to-day lives.